Member Avatar for Reverend Jim

ASUS Computers

I recently had dealings with Asus. The situation was regarding a malfunctioning keyboard. The computer is a several-year-old (no longer under warranty) Asus K53E laptop. It belongs to my father-in-law and because he is somewhat careless with food (he is 91 so this is understandable), something eventually got under one of his CTRL keys causing it to stick closed. Naturally, this made the keyboard (and scroll wheel) useless.

At this point there were two possible solutions:

  1. Clean the keyboard
  2. Replace the keyboard

Before trying option 1 I wanted to see if I could actually purchase a replacement keyboard. I had done this for two Dell laptops so I did not expect any problem. I was able to start an online (text) chat session with an Asus tech (a service not offered by Dell Canada for some unknown reason). He informed me that

  1. They do not sell parts to the public
  2. They would charge me around $350 to do the repair themselves
  3. The service manual was not available to the public

Fortunately I was able to locate a youtube video that clearly showed how to remove the keyboard. I was able to clean and reinstall the keyboard myself resulting in a fully functional laptop.

Several days later I received an email from Asus not just with their apologies, but their "sincerest" apologies for my not being able to get parts. In their own words...

ASUS will not be held liable for any injuries or damages incurred if you attempt to repair your product.

Now, if I were looking to sue them I would not have to buy a part first. I could just open up the laptop and fake some sort of injury. Perhaps I could claim a hitherto unknown allergy to 5 volts. In any case, it seems to me that including a "we will not be liable" waiver with all parts would be sufficient. Who knows? They did, however, provide me with a link to the service manual, which, when I downloaded, turned out to be the user manual which I already had.

Some companies like to sue over negative opinions posted online. As far as I can tell, what I have posted above consists merely of the facts. I am not making a recommendation as to whether or not you should buy an Asus. I'm simply giving you the facts of my recent experience.

Edited by Reverend Jim
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Member Avatar for rproffitt

Small world. At my brother's office we had a pair of K55's and a K53. Due to use and age the keyboards did give out and I picked up new ones on Amazon.com. I only have this one in my history but it's nearly the same for either k53 or k55. Just find the part number to search on Amazon.

The change out is about 5 minutes and total cost to repair was 15USD. Link:
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B01823P8EE/ (don't know if this was the k55 or k53.)

I have ordered parts from Asus.com but I'm in the USA and the only complaint I have is the 7 to 10 day delay vs 2 days on Amazon.

PS. I never thought of getting a service manual. I just hit YouTube and searched for Asus K55 Keyboard replacement. There were plenty of videos on how to change it out. Also, must be Asus Canada. How unfriendly....

Edited by rproffitt because: Clarifying
Member Avatar for Reverend Jim

Funny thing. When I retired in 2008 I got a Dell Inspiron 1720 and was tickled with it (still am). The very few time I had to deal with Dell on warranty were both power related. I got excellent service. In fact, I even got a power supply replaced at the cottage which is about an hour west of Thunder Bay. The replacement was sent by Purolator within two days. Following that I recommended Dell to everyone. My younger son ended up with two (Alienware for gaming and a mini laptop for grunt stuff). Then a couple of years ago I bought a new Dell laptop and it was nothing but trouble. I have described that "adventure" in detail elsewhere in this forum. Because my older son, who had bought an Asus) said that Asus service was excellent, when my father-in-law (above) wanted a laptop we got him the K53E (my brother as well, for that matter). I neglected to consider that #1 son was in Long Island and dealt with Asus US whereas I would be dealing with Asus Canada. I'm hoping I won't need to buy another machine for quite some time.

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